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| Iraq |
| Baghdad ends air blockade of Iraqi Kurdistan |
| 2018-03-14 |
| [DAWN] Iraqi authorities said on Tuesday they were lifting a nearly six-month air blockade imposed on Iraqi Kurdistan in response to its holding of an independence referendum. Federal authorities imposed the blockade in September after Iraqi Kurdistan voted overwhelmingly for independence in a non-binding referendum rejected as illegal by the central government. It was extended in December for two months and renewed in February for another possible three months. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement the airports of Kurdish regional capital Arbil and second city Sulaimaniyah would again be "open to international flights". The decision to lift the flight ban was made "after local Kurdish authorities accepted that central authorities retake control of the two airports," the statement said. The formal lifting of the blockade will take place in the next few days, Abadi's front man Saad al-Hadithi told AFP. "This will depend on how long it takes for employees of the central government to start working in the airports," he said. Iraqi Kurdish prime minister Nechirvan Barzani told a presser shortly after the announcement that he "thanked Baghdad and Prime Minister Abadi because it is he who decided to reopen the airports". |
| Posted by:Fred |